2010-08-21: You had a point?
Summary: Times Square goes under attack by Owlman and Power Ring. Somewhere in there they had a point but it was intercepted by Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Domino - Iron Man coming in for a final kick and clean up. Location: Times Square, New York Participants: Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Domino, Iron Man Rating: PG-13 (Violence) Night was falling and Times Square was anything but bowing down to the fall of the sun and the swift encroaching darkness that came with it. Neon signs flickered to life and as the dark came in it was chased away with the blinding force of the faux lighting. Crowds of people still milled the streets and many were stopped in watch of the news that flickered over the many screens that lined the buildings as well as the current flashes with the past. Some of it still a-buzz with the news of Captain America and the changes it may bring to the crime riddled streets of New York, the current Leagues needing all the help they can get right? Walking amongst the crowds was Domino, the bright lighting the city blocks were taking on reflective against her pale skin that was only veiled by the fall of dark hair, one eye blotted out from the touch by black tattoo marking. Anything else about her was hidden beneath the heavy fall of a leather trench coat. Passing a news stand she paused to catch a glimpse of a black and white photo on it of recent events and look up to see it flash in technicolor. "At least most of the news lately isn't depressing..." Most... Another story dominating many front pages - if sometimes below the fold - is the recent attendance of Wonder Woman, along with the Amazon Embassy's staff, at the theater show of the magicienne extraordinaire, Zatanna Zatara, daughter of the famous Giovanni Zatara. It is quite the big splash of news, made all the more popular with the news outlets because it features not one, but two beautiful women. Like it or not, sex sells papers. At the moment, the news of Captain America's presence in the City has actually drawn out said Amazing Amazon, flying overhead despite the dark of night as she perhaps hopes to spot the star-spangled hero. Of course, she is also on the lookout for things that might need her attention despite her desire to find the Captain. It's the life of a superheroine, after all. No heavy coat for Zatanna...although she is in street clothes. Simple slacks, button down shirt, dark hair loose over her shoulder. She isn't pausing to look at the news, however, but rather peering across the square. It might seem that she's looking for someone. Out of costume...she is attractive, yes, but she doesn't stand out the way some supers do, regardless of what they do. Then, her eyes flick upwards. Almost, one might note, *before* the Amazon appears. Diana was not alone in her soar through the skies, just the same as the streets were not alone for Zatanna and Domino. Soaring a distance off from Diana was a chrome plated man with wings spread. The entire ensemble seemed to match and give him a owl-like appearance with the rounded goggles over his eyes. The lighting of the street below not aiding in him being hidden, but the time to move was now, and he started the opening of the message with a dive towards one of the large screens displaying Captain America and rapid fire opening that shattered the screen into fragments and an array of electrical fireworks. Domino was approaching a corner, a meeting place for another job, another contact, and the collection of only a partial paycheck due to the failure of completely nixing the Tong head. Taking the envelope from the man dressed in a tan overcoat and wearing a matching fedora his motions froze, as from the ground Domino, Zatanna, and the unnamed contact would be subject to the barrage of fleeing pedestrians, all heading from one direction and away. "Notice how they flee like vermin despite their hopes!" A man glowing green stood atop the corner of a fire escape looking down at the gargantuan spiders made of his powers. Flying is not against the law, so while Diana may be aware of the suited, bewinged male sharing the skies with her, she does nothing about it ... until that figure turns towards the screen and opens fire. Unable to intercept all of the shots fired, she still dives into the midst and deflects those she can, and swoops down to start smashing away those massive panes of glass to get them away from the civilians below, sending their shards out into the streets where they can fall on cars instead of humans. The cars will need paintjobs. Humans would need live-saving surgery. It's not a difficult choice. She is also radioing in, tapping something in her ear. "We have an incident in Times Square. It appears Owlman and Power Ring are visiting. Diana responding." Zatanna doesn't have a league communicator right now. She isn't even in costume...and technically, there are such things as secret identities. There is also a lot of debris falling towards both her and the innocents. Really? It's a no brainer. (Well, and Domino and her contact, but she hasn't really noticed them yet). "!dliehS" she yells, stepping back. It's not hard for her to change her clothes if she can get far enough back, and hopefully the shield she just conjured will keep anyone from being injured by all of this shrapnel. "Figures.." The sneer came from Owlman as he looks down upon the fleeing citizens, but his sight was hindered by the arrival of the flying Amazonian woman. Behind the goggles his eyes narrowed, and while she was busy trying to save lives he was hoping the distraction was enough for him to swoop down and get close enough to Diana to sweep at her with a clawed hand at a speed that would likely not only slice at her but knock her aside if she did not dodge. Domino was not having luck, at least not when it came to getting the next job and her possible next paycheck. Before any of that could be exchanged her contact was melding into the masses and fleeing with them. Her slate blue eyes turned upward, catching the sight of the approaching green spiders as well as that of the man up on his building sized soap box. Stepping back one hand reached beneath her trench coat and held pensively over the holstered weapons beneath while the sounds of shattering snapped her attention towards Diana as well. "Great.." To be a hero or to disappear? Though, that was answered when the leg of a spider stood over a parked car and began crushing it with trapped civilians inside. The Browning was drawn and the trigger was pulled aiming for the creatures leg and firing. Luckily the merc had some morals. Zatanna had yet to be noticed amongst this melee yet, but she was muttering lowly. "This could use some backup.." None of which she had, being solo sometimes sucked. Diana is well aware that she is not alone in the skies, and that she shares them with a murdering sociopath. So while she may be concentrating on saving civilians, that does not mean she is ignoring her other senses, and she twists in mid-air in a way that defies physics - ain't magic grand? - and parries that first swipe with a gleaming silvery bracer. Even so, momentum is respected, the Amazon spun about with the blow, forced to concentrate on righting herself and confronting her foe rather than helping civilians for now. Wisdom demands she deal with the threat to herself, or she'll not be able to help anyone else. That doesn't make it easy to do, leaving those others to their own ends. Zatanna gets clear...somewhat...ducking into an alleyway. Okay. How does she handle this? The shield isn't going to last forever, but it's certainly going to help. Rather more quietly, "sehtolC ot emotusC" There...that's better. When she re-emerges, she's clad in the stage magician outfit that passes for a costume for her, her eyes flicking up to the sky and Diana's...situation. The shield Zatanna had set worked, and though some civilians that had stopped to look up lowered to cower at the incoming debris it seemed to stop and deflect most of the harm away, save for a few distant cries. Owlman appeared frustrated, in fact was with the obvious sneer on his lips even though he felt contact in the impact on Diana, but no blood stained his armor. "Unsatisfactory. Come on hero!" And with those words again he was heading for Diana with an abrupt thrust of his wings at a swift momentum, seeing to ram her with his body and pin her against the building with momentum and force. Down below the bullet really didn't seem to do anything to the creature save piss it off more, or it's maker. The focus of power Ring turned towards Domino with a hearty laugh birthing from his lips as one spider lurched forward and headed after the crowd and towards Zatanna, while another headed for Domino. "You think that is going to do much little girl? We have a message to bring and guns wont stop it." He bellowed with an amused tone while Domino remained with her weapon in her hand, shifting the aim from the spider to the man taking further steps back in her debate as distance closed. "Couldn't you just be a tad more subtle?" To this there was only more laughter. Diana seems unperturbed by Owlman's sneer or his bitter voiced complaint. As he charges, she snaps up her hands and tosses a loop of a glowing golden lasso forward, seeking to wrap it about his wrists as she rolls out effortlessly beneath his charge. Should she succeed, she will whip around and use the lasso to extend her reach as she tosses Owlman towards the shield and the sidewalk below with a whip's snap. Quick assessment. Spider heading towards her through the crowd. Panicking civilians. Diana...is more than capable of looking after herself. "Move it!" she calls, knowing she's drawing attention to herself, but its better the spider attacks her than some random civilians. "Clear the area!" Her voice carries surprisingly well for not that large a woman in such a noisy environment. For now, she doesn't cast another spell. Her focus is on the main thing...getting the civs OUT of there. Diana's contact is made, and though he has managed to keep one hand free of that capture it does not stop the fact that it had its hold and he was being thrown towards the ground at a quick speed. His wings snap open, trying to lighten the impact as he nears the ground, only landing with a thud atop an invisible shield. His cries apparently not to Diana. "They have some sort of help down here!" Power Ring's focus shifts, his creations had a towering force over Domino and he was seeking out this 'help'. Though he did not know it was Zatanna that set the shield over them her yelling to clear the bystanders out of the way was enough to have him redirect the second large green arachnid towards her. "We wont be that easily thwarted. Peace and safety are only a dream." And with that a green bolt of energy sought to strike at the shield Zatanna had set up while Owlman made his quick recovery into air, tossing one of his Razorang's at Diana. Domino on the other hand was moving forward now, past Zatanna and towards the arachnid headed her way, with a brief flash of steel a blade came from her wrist sheath and was aimed at the underbelly of the spider. The razarang is a slow-moving projectile compared to energy weapons and automatic gunfire, so Diana deflects it away rather easily. However, with the lasso still around Owlman's wrist, she isn't about to give up that advantage, and a swift tug yanks hard to pull him out of balance and upwards, even as she spirals down around him, which should leave him wrapped up neatly in the magical, unbreakable lasso. Brilliant. Giant, glowing, green spider. Good job she doesn't suffer from arachnophobia. The good side of magic? You can do anything. The bad side? Coming up with what to do. Fortunately...she's very practiced at coming up with that to do. "epor eit redipS" Magical ropes, snaking towards all eight of those legs in an attempt to entangle them and trip the beastie. Yeah. If he wasn't sure about attacking her before...Unfortunately, her concentration shifting, the shield shimmers, starting to fade out. Owlman's freedom and attempt to keep it was short lived his body was manipulated upwards by Diana's movement and twined up in the energy rope, hindering his flight, and his movement to continue attack towards her, in this though a bird without his wings he began that second plummet towards the streets below. At least Power Ring's assumption on the one bystander trying to direct the panicked traffic was correct, and it was confirmed by the rope that suddenly appeared, binding up three of the six legs that continued trying to walk, but faltered, causing its automatic movements forward to become tripped and the large creature began taking a nose dive. The knife Domino was wielding impacted the hard shell of the spider, slicing into it and swinging back with her continued run beneath it and out from under it on the other side. A harsh shriek came to the air though it seemed to hold not much of an effect on the beast still as it began to turn after her, bringing one leg up and trying to slam it down over Domino's swiftly moving form. One clear shot and she was aiming for Power Ring, firing up at him. Power Ring seemed now distracted by the binding of his partner, muttering under his breath and not taking notice of the waver of the shield, instead firing the green energy towards Diana. Diana does not let Owlman simply fall away, but instead snatches up the bound form and holds him, which allows her to use his form as a shield against the incoming beam of green energy, much to the consternation of Owlman, she is quite sure. "That will be quite enough." she declares, as she flies towards the ring-wielder with the roped Owlman still in hand. Go figure, the Amazon is going after him. And if she can succeed at that, those spiders are likely to start faltering even more, as his concentration will waver. Or so she may intend. Athena's Wisdom, after all. Zatanna leaps backwards with surprising agility as the spider begins to take a nose dive. The civilians are clear, so she doesn't do anything but evade herself...BARELY missing the creature as it hits the ground. Is she breathing a little hard? Maybe a bit...she hasn't done this in a good while. Owlman was relearning how to breathe when he was recovered from nearly hitting the ground, perhaps that was why the sudden sharp cry of seeing the incoming green energy was brief and high pitched - and then there was nothing, he was KO'd and in the grip of Diana. Zatanna was clear of the falling arachnid that now thrashed against the bonds she had created, it's three free legs kicking out at cars, signs, and going through the window of one of the buildings below. Domino was on the same page as Diana nearly, it seemed he was commanding the things so he was the one she had taken aim at and fired several rounds at. One made it through, grazing Power Man's calf, causing the green around him to flare up and his attention to be diverted towards Domino even as Diana flew in with his partner in her hands. Domino did not have any further time though to make any other attempts, the descending leg of the spider came crashing down on her, her reaction having it barely miss and double back towards Zatanna though the rise of the leg abruptly after kicked out and sent Domino at more of a flying speed in her direction. With Power Ring distracted and Owlman not even struggling anymore, Diana streaks in and tries to land a solid punch on the jaw of the ring-weapon-wielder. She'll take any opening she can get, given the threat this man and his constructs pose to the safety of the people. It's not dishonorable: he should know better than to look away from her. Zatanna acks as a flying Domino descends towards her. She goes flying, and the ropes...disappear. That's not good. She gets her poise back in a moment, attempting another spell from somewhere under the other woman. "knirhs redips!" Let's see if THAT one works any better...of course, she's still tangled with poor Domino, which MIGHT mean she's not concentrating as much as she should be. The spiders that once had their solidarity almost seemed to ripple in reality. Wavering images that seemed so real showed otherwise with the draw of Power Ring's attention away, and the solid punch that followed by Diana had him taking a few steps back. Now she had his **full** attention and one hand rose towards Diana's side, seeking to blast her back while the other gripped Owlman. The plan was failing, but not completely even though the spiders were being held off and the other was unconscious enough of a message had been made, and now he was willing to cut the rest of the losses. Down below meanwhile, Domino is kicking back and keeping her eyes on the large spiders while offering Zatanna a hand up. The Browning was held towards the two spiders and shifted back and forth, her finger squeezing on the trigger but before the concussive sound of bullets rings forth the spiders shrink...and then disappears. Success had from Power Rings distraction that utterly was focused on Diana and his escape. Diana does not manage to bring Owlman to bear as a shield again, and grunts as the blast of emerald energy slams into her side, a grimace at the discomfort it causes - far less than most would expect, but Power Ring should know enough about the Amazon to have been expecting that. But trying to nap Owlman from her grip will prove much more problematic, given he is wrapped up in the Lasso of Truth, and won't be coming free of Diana's hands unless she is no longer conscious, really. A plume of pale smoke whisps away from Diana's side as she hovers in place. Then she pirrhouettes gracefully in mid-air with near-blinding speed, and extends out a leg in a circle kick aimed at Power Ring's mid-section. Zatanna accepts the hand up from Domino, grabbing her hat on the way up. Can't be without the hat. She flips it back onto her head. "Thank you." Not asking if the stranger is okay...she got up, so it can't be serious. She's somewhat bruised herself, glancing up and trying to work out whether Diana needs her help or, well, not. It's Wonder Woman, after all. Oh Power Ring knew and was hoping for a distraction or the discomfort to have Diana loosen some form of grip on his fellow Syndicate member. He was not above leaving him behind if survival came to it but explaining it to the boss was not something on his itinerary either. Unsuccessful in a quick and clean escape he saw the kick incoming with the movements of the lithe amazonian and stepped back but not in enough time to dodge, his form sailing back only to be barraged by the energy of the arriving Iron Man, rattling him and sending him further back. A low sound of frustration comes from him as he takes flight into the air, looking down at Zatanna and the regaining Domino, as well as to Wonder Woman and Iron Man. Nothing needed to be said, havoc had been wreaked and fear was stricken into the civilians as a reminder to them and all the heroes. Hope was best left on the back-burner. A blink of green and the man was gone, he knew when he was beaten..For now. Down on the ground Domino was nodding to Zatanna and looking up at the skyline where the fight finally came to an end, holstering her weapon and shrugging her coat back on a bit stiffly. Somewhere beneath all that was road rash. "Another fun night in New York. Now where the hell did Perry go?" She still wanted her next job. Diana turns as Power Ring takes off, and grimaces. She will not be giving chase just now, as there are those who need help. The danger has passed, and now is the time of healing. The Amazon turns to Iron Man's approach and hails with a raised hand. "It is good to see you, Iron Man. I am glad that you could make it. As I said over comms, it appears Power Ring and Owlman wanted to make a statement. Thankfully, we were able to minimize that. Have you some of those binding cuffs, so that I might retrieve my lasso?" Rather than keep holding Owlman in it. He's pretty still, rather unconscious having been used as a human shield against one of those green blasts. Once the issue of Owlman is dealt with, Diana floats down to the street level, waving to the ladies to were so helpful. "Good evening to you both, and thank you. Your help is much appreciated." But the time of healing is now, and Diana will start looking for those in need. She can talk and help at the same time, thankfully. The crowds were slowly starting to close in around them, though a good birth of distance was still kept and the slight cheering could be heard rippling through the people, as well as in the backdrop sirens could be heard. Paparazzi was had by both media and civilians, likely even phones taking small recordings of the battle and its end as well as the arrival of Iron Man. Considering the damage to the streets there were a few people trapped in the half crushed car as well as some dealing with scraped, bumps and bruises from trying to flee and some parts of the glass catching them. The large destroyed screen above Times Square was also still spitting forth sparks of electricity. Domino cast a sidelong glance towards Zatanna after Iron Man's appearance and rolled her shoulders to shrug the coat more firmly over her frame and took a few steps away, never much one for the media glitz and glamour of life, nor being seen as a hero. Right place right or wrong time. "Your welcome." It was murmur'd towards Wonder Woman and those who could hear it before she turned and got lost in the closing in crowd. Zatanna lets out a breath, moving to check the area. She knows not everyone is alright, but she calls a soft, "Thank you," after Domino. Who is probably some kind of mercenary or thug, but she DID help, even if it was in self defense. Injuries. Healing magic is far from her strong suit, but there is probably something she can do. She moves to help Diana. "And thank you." She is not sure...well, she MIGHT have been able to deal with them on her own, but she would not have been able to save so many from being injured or worse. Even before he got there, Iron Man was a few steps ahead in terms of organizing what would be needed. As Diana flies down with Owlman, NYPD ESU is n the scene and take the dimensional criminal into custody, using state of the art metahuman restraints. Other emergency servies arrive and start performing triage before loading wounded into amubulances. Iron Man flies down next to Diana and helps her to start clearing away the rubble. "Sorry I'm late," he says over the JLA com. "Had some dificulty exusing myself from the meeting I was in." Freed of having to worry with Owlman, Diana moves amongst the crowd, tending to injured where she finds them, proving again that an Amazon is more than merely a warrior. "Don't worry. Everything will be alright." she reassures many, as they continue. She also makes a point of thanking the emergency services personnel for their hard work and assistance, before moving to help clearing rubble and the sort. Super-strength is handy for wrenching people free from ruined vehicles. "That is quite alright, Iron Man. You came, and that is what matters. I appreciate your help, just as I do that of Zatanna, and the other woman, even though she has departed now." Zatanna is definitely doing her best to help...with the odd muttered word here and there. She glances at Iron Man. Not surprising he would be late on occasion...it has to take him a little bit of time to suit up. "Iron Man," she greets, with a bit of a smile. Iron Man nods to the sorceress. "Miss Zatanna...good to see you back in action. And thanks for the help." He turns back to the task at hand, activating a powerful laser cutter on his wrist to slice through colapsed I-beams and make the rubble easier to lift up. As he lifts up the concrete and metal, emergency services scramble in to pull civilians who were trapped underneath out. "Anyone know how those two got here or what they wanted? Aside from general destruction?" The Amazon princess responds to Iron Man, "They said they were here to deliver a message, clearly one of terror. Beyond that, I do not know. But perhaps we can question Owlman later." After all, with Diana's lasso, they would surely get good answers out of him if he is at all aware of how it is they ended up here in this world tonight. Category:Logs